KANPUR, Jan. 11 -- Police claimed to have busted an alleged religious conversion racket in Kanpur Dehat with the arrest of three people accused of using a vocational training centre as a front to lure economically vulnerable individuals since the Covid-19 pandemic.

Those arrested on Saturday night were identified as Daniel Sharad Singh, Hari Om Tyagi and Savitri Sharma -- aged between 45 and 50 years. According to police, they were operating under the banner of Navakanti Society from a closed school building located about a kilometre from Akbarpur police station. Officials claimed that the group targeted scheduled caste families and poor residents by offering skill training, financial assistance and basic amenities, before gradually push...